© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Blueberries
Wow! Today we went to a blueberry farm here in Nacogdoches. It was so beautiful and there was an abundance of blueberries. We had a great time and I can't believe we haven't been there before now. As long as I've lived here and I've never been there. Crazy. Soooooooo, now it's time to make some blueberry desserts! Desserts are by far my favorite part of the meal. In fact, the only real reason I can see for eating a meal is to get the dessert. Makes sense doesn't it? Well, I'm ready to experiment so I will post the recipes and pictures as soon as I make them. We should have enough blueberries to last us a while, even with all the experimenting that's about to take place.
I have learned something new about my chickens. In a previous post I described how the three rebels would run to the back porch to eat the cat and dog food. I just learned that if chickens aren't getting enough protein that you can give them cat food and that will help. Who would have thought that? So, we have started feeding them a larger amount of their food and they are as content as they can be. They are much calmer and don't peck at us anymore. How nice! They love all the scraps from the garden too.
I am compiling a list of fruit trees that I want to plant when tree season gets here. Would love to have as many as I can fit. My very favorite shrub is the Bottlebrush. I had two beautiful, very healthy Bottlebrushes that I had planted four years ago and then I lost them both when the BIG freeze hit this past winter. It was a very sad day to me so I try not to think about it. I was very suprised by this though. They are the heartiest shrub and very easy to grow. Not a lot of effort needs to be spent on them and they are absolutely beautiful! I will know next time to cover them good if we are going to get that big of a freeze.....doesn't happen very often. I plan on getting about ten at some point and scattering them throughout our backyard. It will be Hummingbird Heaven!!
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
I have learned something new about my chickens. In a previous post I described how the three rebels would run to the back porch to eat the cat and dog food. I just learned that if chickens aren't getting enough protein that you can give them cat food and that will help. Who would have thought that? So, we have started feeding them a larger amount of their food and they are as content as they can be. They are much calmer and don't peck at us anymore. How nice! They love all the scraps from the garden too.
I am compiling a list of fruit trees that I want to plant when tree season gets here. Would love to have as many as I can fit. My very favorite shrub is the Bottlebrush. I had two beautiful, very healthy Bottlebrushes that I had planted four years ago and then I lost them both when the BIG freeze hit this past winter. It was a very sad day to me so I try not to think about it. I was very suprised by this though. They are the heartiest shrub and very easy to grow. Not a lot of effort needs to be spent on them and they are absolutely beautiful! I will know next time to cover them good if we are going to get that big of a freeze.....doesn't happen very often. I plan on getting about ten at some point and scattering them throughout our backyard. It will be Hummingbird Heaven!!
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
We got our first eggs yesterday!
We were so excited to walk in the coop and find two eggs! They were white eggs so the Pearl Whites are the ones that gifted us. We have five Pearl Whites, six Red Stars, five Black Stars, and five Rhode Island Reds. Everyone but the Pearls will give us brown eggs.
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
Kitten Cuteness
We have three little kittens and I have to say, they are really cute!
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Garden Pests
We seem to have an infestation of insects in our garden all of a sudden. There are stink bugs on the tomatoes, and something is eating the green bean foliage. Definitely not what I want to see while parusing through the garden. Organic gardening is the only way I go so I am going to make a mixture of something, I'm not sure what yet, and spray. Does anyone know what will take care of the stink bugs? I am going to research to see what I can find out and will share with the rest of you gardeners. Gardening is such as experiment and I love it because there is always something new to do. Whether it's making the soil better, using new organic spray, new varieties of veggies to plant, making it colorful with flowers, or just whatever, it's just plain exciting to me!
Of course I've already planned certain things I want to do for next time. And one of those is to make it quite a bit larger than it is now. My kids were a little perplexed at this idea.....I informed them of this as we were weeding. :) And I will make sure that nothing eats our corn and green bean seeds. We were supposed to have two full rows of corn and one of green beans. I noticed that the chickens were scoping things out as we were planting. Little did I know, and should have thought of it, they were planning on when to strike and get the seeds. They managed to get almost all of the two rows we planted. Well, I will be on guard more next time.
I guess I should back up a little and tell you a little about our life. We, my three kids and I, have six cats, one dog, and twenty-one chickens. We want to get some goats and of course a horse or two. My son is dying for a horse.....and I am too. Hopefully that is in our near future. A cow or two would be nice too. Our baby chicks arrived in Feb. 2010 and we just love them. They are a lot of fun and are very comical to watch. They are all hens and we are waiting for eggs any day now. They are organic, of course, and we'll sell the extra eggs. They're supposed to each lay one egg a day so we will have an abundance of eggs! That's where the profit comes in. We have one acre and I am determined to get as much on this acre as we possibly can. My parents live next to us with seventeen acres so we have access to some of that too. One of the best books I have is called "The Backyard Homestead". It's an absolutely wonderful book. It talks about all you can actually do with one acre. It has a lot of gardening advice, canning, raising animals, and just about anything you might want to know, definitely a MUST HAVE.
I homeschool my three kids and it's quite an adventure! I use the Classical Education method of teaching and it's just amazing to watch this method work. For those of you not familiar with Classical Education, in a nutshell, it's how they were taught years ago, you know, when people were really smart. It's Biblically sound material, both rigorous and exciting all at the same time. We, as a society, definitely underestimate what kids can learn and do. It's an exciting time and I'm starting to pick out their books for this coming year. The summer goes by soooooo fast! I think I need a little longer!
Of course I've already planned certain things I want to do for next time. And one of those is to make it quite a bit larger than it is now. My kids were a little perplexed at this idea.....I informed them of this as we were weeding. :) And I will make sure that nothing eats our corn and green bean seeds. We were supposed to have two full rows of corn and one of green beans. I noticed that the chickens were scoping things out as we were planting. Little did I know, and should have thought of it, they were planning on when to strike and get the seeds. They managed to get almost all of the two rows we planted. Well, I will be on guard more next time.
I guess I should back up a little and tell you a little about our life. We, my three kids and I, have six cats, one dog, and twenty-one chickens. We want to get some goats and of course a horse or two. My son is dying for a horse.....and I am too. Hopefully that is in our near future. A cow or two would be nice too. Our baby chicks arrived in Feb. 2010 and we just love them. They are a lot of fun and are very comical to watch. They are all hens and we are waiting for eggs any day now. They are organic, of course, and we'll sell the extra eggs. They're supposed to each lay one egg a day so we will have an abundance of eggs! That's where the profit comes in. We have one acre and I am determined to get as much on this acre as we possibly can. My parents live next to us with seventeen acres so we have access to some of that too. One of the best books I have is called "The Backyard Homestead". It's an absolutely wonderful book. It talks about all you can actually do with one acre. It has a lot of gardening advice, canning, raising animals, and just about anything you might want to know, definitely a MUST HAVE.
I homeschool my three kids and it's quite an adventure! I use the Classical Education method of teaching and it's just amazing to watch this method work. For those of you not familiar with Classical Education, in a nutshell, it's how they were taught years ago, you know, when people were really smart. It's Biblically sound material, both rigorous and exciting all at the same time. We, as a society, definitely underestimate what kids can learn and do. It's an exciting time and I'm starting to pick out their books for this coming year. The summer goes by soooooo fast! I think I need a little longer!
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
Thursday, June 24, 2010
New Squash Recipe
We have so much squash from our garden that I have frozen some and am experimenting with ways to cook it. There's nothing like fresh summer squash! I just love it. This is my favorite time of year. The kids and I love to go down to the garden every morning to see what we may be able to pick. Although I am getting pretty disgusted to find that some of our tomatoes have big bites taken out from a little veggie loving thief! I may just have to fence off the garden...... and fences are NOT my specialty.
Ok, here's the new recipe that was suprisingly good....and my kids loved it!! I named it:
Squash Rollups
2 cups yellow squash, cooked on stovetop until tender and drained very well
1/2 cup of onion, cook in pan with squash
2 cups shredded cheese
1 8oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup crushed seasoned croutons
1/4 cup diced ham, can be canned or sandwich meat too
2 cans cresent rolls
Mix together squash mixture thoroughly. Spread out two cresent rolls to make a square. Repeat with the rest of cresent rolls. Place heaping spoonfuls onto cresent rolls then fold up opposite corners and pinch. Brush tops with melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees or until golden on top. Yum!!! Thought this was a really good and different way to enjoy the summer squash. Enjoy!
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
Ok, here's the new recipe that was suprisingly good....and my kids loved it!! I named it:
Squash Rollups
2 cups yellow squash, cooked on stovetop until tender and drained very well
1/2 cup of onion, cook in pan with squash
2 cups shredded cheese
1 8oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup crushed seasoned croutons
1/4 cup diced ham, can be canned or sandwich meat too
2 cans cresent rolls
Mix together squash mixture thoroughly. Spread out two cresent rolls to make a square. Repeat with the rest of cresent rolls. Place heaping spoonfuls onto cresent rolls then fold up opposite corners and pinch. Brush tops with melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees or until golden on top. Yum!!! Thought this was a really good and different way to enjoy the summer squash. Enjoy!
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
Monday, June 21, 2010
Up and running...and I mean running:)
Well, here it is. The first day of my Fiddlin' Farm Days blog. I'm not quite sure where to start so I'll just dive in. That's how I tend to do things anyway. Don't have a clue what I'm doing? No problem! I'll just dive on in. Trial and error, that's what I say. Seems like it's usually more error than anything else though.
The past couple of days I've been focused on trying to keep everything watered. It's extremely hot and our garden is begging for any liquid it might be given. Something has been eating our squash.....not sure what the culprit is. I know the chickens have been getting into them when they can during the day but they are in their coop at night. We have thought about sitting on the porch after dark to see what we might be able to see, but the thought of mosquitoes and possibly varmints like possums or something even worse, snakes, creeping up on us brings us back to our senses and we decide we'll just see what's missing in the morning. I have managed to keep most of the chickens in their yard during the day but there are three rebels who love to fly over as soon as they finish their food in the morning. It's the exact same routine every morning. They finish their food, fly over the fence, and run up to the back porch to see what they may be able to scrounge up there. They will consume whatever cat food is left and then proceed over to Precious's (our beagle) food bowl and continue to taste. Precious has become very privy to this and waits for the opportune time to pounce. They don't seem very fazed by this though. Dog food must be some sort of gourmet food. They are very comical to watch and the expression, "bird brain", is very appropriate.
We have a cat named Cinderella who is actually a boy but we did not know this at the time we named her. So, we still call him "her" and "Cinderella"....too confusing to change now. Anyway, this cat thinks she's a dog and it's absolutely hilarious. The other day I was working on the chicken fence (the story of my life these days) and I looked up to find that quite a few chickens had meandered into the garden. I casually said, "Cinderella, get those chickens out of our garden." To my suprise and flat out amusement, she took out for the garden and herded all the chickens out but one! I sat amazed and said, "Well, there's one more. Go get it." And again, off she went and chased the last one out. It was really priceless and I wish I could have gotten it on video. I will posts some pictures of our animals soon.
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
The past couple of days I've been focused on trying to keep everything watered. It's extremely hot and our garden is begging for any liquid it might be given. Something has been eating our squash.....not sure what the culprit is. I know the chickens have been getting into them when they can during the day but they are in their coop at night. We have thought about sitting on the porch after dark to see what we might be able to see, but the thought of mosquitoes and possibly varmints like possums or something even worse, snakes, creeping up on us brings us back to our senses and we decide we'll just see what's missing in the morning. I have managed to keep most of the chickens in their yard during the day but there are three rebels who love to fly over as soon as they finish their food in the morning. It's the exact same routine every morning. They finish their food, fly over the fence, and run up to the back porch to see what they may be able to scrounge up there. They will consume whatever cat food is left and then proceed over to Precious's (our beagle) food bowl and continue to taste. Precious has become very privy to this and waits for the opportune time to pounce. They don't seem very fazed by this though. Dog food must be some sort of gourmet food. They are very comical to watch and the expression, "bird brain", is very appropriate.
We have a cat named Cinderella who is actually a boy but we did not know this at the time we named her. So, we still call him "her" and "Cinderella"....too confusing to change now. Anyway, this cat thinks she's a dog and it's absolutely hilarious. The other day I was working on the chicken fence (the story of my life these days) and I looked up to find that quite a few chickens had meandered into the garden. I casually said, "Cinderella, get those chickens out of our garden." To my suprise and flat out amusement, she took out for the garden and herded all the chickens out but one! I sat amazed and said, "Well, there's one more. Go get it." And again, off she went and chased the last one out. It was really priceless and I wish I could have gotten it on video. I will posts some pictures of our animals soon.
© fiddlinfarmdays.blogspot.com
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